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(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

O. L. REDFIELD. ESGAPEMENT DEVICE FOR MATRIX MAKINGMAGHINES.

No. 448,587. Patented Mar. 17, 1891.

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2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

0. L. REDPIELD. ESOAPEMENT DEVICE FOR MATRIX MAKING MACHINES.- No. 448,587.

Patented Mar. 1'7, 189-1.

STATES PATENT Caries.

CASPER L. REDFIELD, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE CHICAGO MATRIX MACHINE COMPANY.

ESCAPEMENT DEVICE FOR MATRIX-MAKING MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 448,587, dated March 17, 1891. Application filed November 4; 1890. Serial No. 370,284. (N model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

die it known that I, CASPER L. REDFIELD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Escapement Devices for HatriXhI-aking Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention, though capable of general [0 application, is especially designed for use in connection with matrix-making machines,

and an improvement upon and peculiarly applicable to machines of the character disclosed in the patents to Geo. A. Goodson, Nos. I 414,399 and 414,400 of November 5, 1889, and

No. 436,703 of September 16, 1890.

The present improvement is primarily directed to the feed for the matrix material, and has for its object increase of speed, the production of better matrices, and enhancement of the reliability and durability of the machine.

The character-selecting, the die-aligning, and the die-impressing devices are in this ap- 2 5 pllcation substantiallylikethose in the former patents referred to, and an escapement with stops similar in many respects to that disclosed in said patent is used for variably limiting the movement of the matrix-carriage to effect feed movements of different lengths, as may be required for the selected dies, to produce a matrix differentially spaced, as in newspaper and book print. The feed mechanism and the depressing device are electrically controlled from the character-selecting device. The dies and characters are classified into groups, according to the space required, and the feed movements correspond thereto. The die-carrier is in the form of a swinging and sliding lever, having the dies at one end and a hand-key with contact at the other, working over an index-plate with countersunk holes and contacts thereunder. In all of said former machines, except the last, the feed movement took place in advance of the stroke on the die. This required the parts to be so related as to give the necessary sequence in point of time; otherwise the matrix would be destroyed or rendered so imperfect as to be worthless. In other words, the die-stroke had to be withheld for a sufficient time after the selection of the character to permit the matrix material to be moved to its required limit and stopped. To insure this result it was necessary to avoid connecting up the feed-magnets and the die-pressing magnets directly in series on the same circuit, and instead some moving part of the feed mechanism was made to close a branch circuit through the die-depressing magnet at the end ofthe feed movement. The connection being thus indirectly made gave the required sequence, and the circuit-breaker was operated from a movable part of the die-depressing device to break the said branch circuit at the end of the die-stroke. This interval between contact at the index-plate and the stroke of the die to insure the necessary sequence was much greater than was required by the operator to make a contact and to note in his mind the next letter. The operator was expected to hold the key depressed during the requisite interval; but this he would often fail to do, though the holesin the index-plate were deepened to delay him and would retract the key before the stroke, thus shifting the die from the common center, and causing the stroke when given to pound the die against the die-carriage bed-plate, destroying the face of the die. Supplementary circuits on the feed-magnets and other forms of locking devices were added to overcome this last-named evil by holding the key in contact until the completed stroke, all leaving the loss of time unreclaimed, clogging the operator, and introducing objectionable elements peculiar to themselves.

My present invention overcomes all of the above defects and limitations, putting back into the possession of the operator the lost increment of time, leaving no other limitation whatever to the speed of the machine, save only the quickness of the operators touch in making the contacts and his own mental action in selecting the characters. This is ac- 5 complished by the very radical departure from the operation of said earlier machines of first predetermining the feed movement or setting a limit to the same at the time of selecting the character and making the diestroke and causing the feed to take place after the die-stroke. The matrix material is thus moved while the operator is moving the character-key from one hole to another on the index-plate. The die-depressing device may be run up to avery high degree of speed, and its magnet may be directly connected in a circuit through the contacts at the indexplate, so that contact at the key and the diestroke are substantially synchronous. In other words, the selection of the character and the die-stroke are practically simultaneous. The contacts may be then arranged to permit the quickest possible movement of the key, and the key is instantly free after contact. In this construction it should be noted that whether the matrix material be first moved the required space for the selected die and the die then impressed, or the die be first impressed and the matrix afterward moved the corresponding required space, will make no difference whatsoever, so far as concerns the relative spacing of the letters in the line. This change in the feed may be effected in several different ways. I secure this result most simply, as I think, by transposing the pivot of the pawl-carrying lever of the escapement mechanism (shown in the patents referred to) to a point on thelever intermediate its operating-magnet and the pawls, and by reversing the stepped lever to adapt it to predetermine the different extents of feed movement upon the selection of the characters, and to permit the feed escapements to take place after the release of the character-selecting device.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of my improved escapement device; and Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic view of the machine, showing the course of the electric currents.

In said drawings, 1 designates a rack connected to the matrix-carriage,wl1ich, by means of a spring or weight, has a constant tension in the direction of the arrow In engagement with the rack is a pinion 2, and on a spindle operated thereby is a scape-wheel 3, which is thus given a constant tension in the direction of the arrow ,2". Over the wheel is a T-shaped pawlcarrier 4, having its main stem pivoted intermediate its ends, as at 5. One of the lateral branches 6 carries a dog 7, that in normal position is free from the wheelratchets. T 1e opposite lateral branch 8 has a widened end provided with a curved slot 9. At or near the axis of the scape-wheel a lever 10 is pivoted to the bar a, and carries a pawl 11, that is normally in engagement with the teeth of the wheel. The rotation of the wheel beyond a fixed limit in the direction of the tension is prevented by an adjustable stop 12. The lever 10 is made to extend beyond the wheel, and is provided with steps 13 for engaging the steps 14-. The stops are supported below the plane at which they would be engaged by the lever, and are adapted to be separately lifted to position for engagement by means of levers 15, which carry armatures 16 on their outer arms and are operated by magnets 17. The relative arrangement of the steps 13 and the stops 14 may be such that the minimum escapement movements permitted shall be one tooth, two teeth, or more, as desired. The second, third, and other measures of movement controlled by the successive steps and steps may be adapted to 111- crease the feed movement by the space of one or more teeth each. The spacing movement permit-ted may thus be according to any desired measurement of progression, but obviously should correspond to the requlrements of the dies used.

The lever 10 is provided with a spring 18, for swinging it in the direction of the stops whenever its pawl 11 is free from the scapewhcel. The lever t carries on its lower end an armature 19 in position to cause the lever to be thrown over a suitable distance to free one pawl and engage the other when the magnet 20, with which the armature co-operates, is energized. A spring 21 retracts the lever 4 when released from its magnet.

The arrangement of the electric contacts and currents should be such that upon the selection of the character the magnet 20 will be energized, and thereby cause the lever l to turn on its pivot, thus throwing the dog 7 into engagement with the scape-wheel and freeing the pawl 11. This action should be such as will cause the engagement of the holdingdog to be simultaneous with the freeing of the pawl on the swinging lever-,in order that the scape-Wheel may make no movement during the change. The arrangement of the elec trical and mechanical devices should also be such that simultaneously with the energizing of the magnet 20 the appropriate magnet 17 will also be energized to cause the proper stoppin 14- to be lifted into the plane of movement of the lever 10, so that when the latter is free to be moved by its spring 18 in the direction of the stops the proper stop will be in place to limit its travel. Thus the extent of the movement of the lever 10 upon its release may be made to correspond with the required extents of feed movements for the several characters, and the position at which it is stopped by the projected stop-pin will enable its pawl 11 to re-engage the Wheel the proper number of teeth in advance of the previous engagement to cause the desired feed to take place when the temporary holding-dog is again freed. In this manner, as will be obvious, upon the selection of a character by the depression of the character-selecting device at the index-board the escapement will be set for the feed movement required for the character selected, and the escapement device will be prevented from making a feed movement until after the contact at the key-board has been broken. By connecting up the impression device so that it will operate upon a contact being made at the key-board the impression of the die will oc- IIO cur simultaneously with the setting of the feeding device and before the feed movement takes place.

An arrangement of the currents is shown in the diagram, Fig. 2, in which the appropriate groups of characters at the key-board, the escapement-magnet 20, the stop-pin magnets 17, and the impressing-device magnet 22 are all directly connected up in series on a circuit A B, having branches at, b, c, d, e, and f. The course of the current is to the bed on the line A, to the key-lever, to the contacts under the key-board, thence by the proper branch, (a b, &c.,) according to the character selected at the index-plate, to the corresponding stop-pin magnet, to the escapement-mag net, thence to the impression-magnet, and back by the line B to the source.

The operation is evident from the description already given. The instant contact is made at the ind ex-plate the circuit is closed through the feed-stop magnet 17, corresponding to the selected die, and through the escapement-magnet 20 and the impression-device magnet 22. The armature lever 4 is drawn to its magnet, releasing the dog 7 and causing engagement of the pawl 11. The appropriate stop-pin is sim ultaneously projected into the path of the swinging lever 10, and at the same time the impressing-device magnetcauses the die to be impressed. Retracting the key at the index-plate breaks the circuit, setting free the armature-lever 4, releasing the dog 11,and causingre-engagementof the dog 7, and so permitting the feed movement to take place after the impression of the die. In the meantime the operator may be moving the key to the next desired perforation on the index-plate.

In view of the close direct connection of the impressing device with the index-plate contacts, the feed-magnets, and the high speed of the constantly-running shaft contact cannot be made without depressing the die, and as the circuit through the impressing-device magnet is broken as soon as contact is broken at the index-plate no stroke can occur after the die has been moved from the common center. Hence there can be no pounding on the dies. The machine is therefore made reliable, the matrix is never mutilated, and the dies will last as long as or longer than any other parts of the machine.

In the description heretofore given and in the claims hereinafter made the term pawlcarrier has been used, for convenience of definition, to include the lever or bar or other equivalent device for carrying and reciprocatin g two detents for alternate engagement with the ratchets, and the term pawl-carrier is to be construed throughout this specification and claims to cover any construction whatever comprising two constituent parts, one of which holds the scape-wheel and the other of which is movable in advance the required space to limit the following movement of the wheel.

The generic claim for means for operating a variable escapement and a die-impressing device by a continuous or single circuit is reserved to be made in my pending application, Serial No. 309,288, filed May 1, 1889.

What I herein claim is- 1. The combination, with an electric die-depressing device and an electric feed-escape ment, of a character-selecting device provided with a circuit-controller and an electrically-controlled pawl-carrier having a dc tent for holding the escapement; while theimpression device is operating and another detent adapted to rotate with the scape-wheel variable distances to permit proper variable feed movements to take place after the impressions.

2. The combination, with an electric die-depressing device and an electric feed-escapement, of a character-selecting device pro vided with a circuit-controller and an electrically-controlled pawl-carrier having a detent for holding the escapement while the 1mpression device is operating and another detent adapted to rotate with the scape-Wheel variable distances to permit proper variable feed movements to take place after the impressions, and a common electric circuit through all of said electric device's controlled by the character-selecting device.

3. The combination, with the electric d1edepressing device, of the escapement and stops under electric control, the sliding and swinging die-carrier having hand-key and contact, the index-plate with contacts, the v1- brating pawl-carrier for holding the escapement during the operation of the impression device and permitting it to move variable distances following the operation of the 1mpression device, and a common electric circuit through all of said electric devices.

4. An electrically-controlled impression device and an electrically-controlled feed mechanism, both on acommon circuit and controlled by a character-selecting device, 1n combination with a pawl-carrier having one detent adapted to hold the escapement during the operation of the impression device and another detent on a swinging member adapted to move to advanced position on the Wheel during the closure of the circuit, to be returned by the Wheel to initial position upon the opening of the circuit.

5. In combination with an electrically-controlled die-pressing device and matrix-feed mechanism, a pawl-carrier having a detent on a swinging member that serves as the holding-dog and having a second detent that serves as a temporary holding-dog while the other is free, electrically-controlled devices for simultaneously moving the one detent into and the other out of engagement, and means for causing the swinging detent to move to advanced position along the ratchets when free to be turned to initial position upon its re-engagement with the ratchets.

6. In combination with an electrically-conlas,

trolled impression device and an electricallycontrolled variable feed-escapement, a pivoted pawl-carrier having a temporary holdingdog' on a rigid member and a moving pawl on a pivoted membeiythe same being arranged to lock the escapement during the operations of the impression device and permit variable feed movements following the operations of the impression device.

7. In a matrix-machine, a variable feedescapement having a series of electricallycontrolled stops for varying the feed, an electrically-operated pawl-carrier having one detent on a rigid member and another on apivoted member which cooperates with the stops, the same being arraiiged to lock the escapement while the circuit is closed and permit the feed to take place when the circuit is broken.

8. In a matrix-machine, an impressing device, a variable feed-escapement having a series of stops for varying the feed, levers for operating the stops, charactor-selecting devices controlling the operation of said levers and of the impressing device, and a pawl-can rier also controlled by the character-selecting devices and having one detent on a rigid membar and another on a swinging member which co-operates with the stops, whereby the escapement is locked while dies are being impressed and the appropriate feed movements succeed the impressions.

9. The combination, with a die-impressing device, type-dies and means for presenting them at the printing-point, and a variable feed-escapement, of character-selecting devices controlling the presentation of the dies and the operation of the impressing device, and a pawl-carrier having one detent for holding the escapement while the impressing device is operating and another detent adapted to rotate with the scape-wheel variable distances to permit proper variable feed movements to take place after the impressions, the said pawl-carrier being under the control of the character-selecting devices.

(JASPER L. REDFIELD.

Witnesses:

E. 13. SPRINGER, GRAHAM l. JONES. 

